Faith, Hope, & Promise

Transcription

1 Bible Study Notes; March 2000; Faith, Hope & Promise Page 1 of 4 March 2000 Bible Study Notes; Page 1 of Joyner Weems; 344 Camp Road, Hayden, AL 35079; Permission to copy in full context only. Our desire is to know more tomorrow than we do today. Comments welcome. Faith, Hope, & Promise Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen (Heb.11:1) When faith hears and believes God it will produce Hope related to what God has said. If GodÕs word is a promise then faith will hear and believe and patiently endure until God keeps the promise (Heb. 6:15). If GodÕs word is a command then faith will obey and keep the command. So when faith relates to a promise, it looks to God to do the work. But when faith relates to a command, then God looks at faith to do the work. Therefore, the works of faith are determined by the Word of God and whether God is promising to do something or if God is asking others to do something. We are told that God made promises (many) to Abraham; some of which he received in His lifetime and others which would come later to His earthly descendants through Jacob. Still others would be kept in the fullness of time when God, like Abraham, would have a son born of a woman from the Word, who like Isaac would be condemned to die at Mt. Moriah to bring blessings to AbrahamÕs spiritual descendants. These promises from God to Abraham required the work of God in order to be fulfilled but it required Abraham to believe if he was to have hope in their fulfillment. All that AbrahamÕs faith could do about the promise was to believe and hope but when Isaac came he could begin to trust and obey. So we see that faith can simply believe in a promise and with hope abide in expectation. But when the promise comes and faith possesses itõs hope then faith must take on stewardship responsibility for that which it now possesses. Believing faith can have hope in a promise and it can receive the provision of the promise when it is provided; but once faith takes possession, hope will cease and obedient faith must begin. God does the work which hope expects, but faith must do the work which God expects. In the promise God does the work which faith receives as a gift, but with the possession faith does the work which God receives as a service (well done). During the period of promise, faith cannot possess what it hopes for but when God sees the hoping He is pleased to count it as righteousness and gives faith a good report. But when faith takes possession and becomes a servant and a steward, then faith must obey to obtain the pleasure of God. In the promise God does the work to which faith should say well done but in the possession faith does the work in order for God to say well done. Hope cannot see what faith believes until what faith believes is revealed for hope to see. Faith can see without possessing because it looks back to the person who promised, while hope looks ahead to the things which are to be provided. The promise was not made to hope, rather the promise was made to faith and when faith believed, it brought forth hope. Faith is the cause of which hope is the effect and hearing is the cause of which faith is the effect. Faith does the hearing and believing while hope does the watching and waiting. Faith hears about things not seen but faith believes that hope will see them. Faith believes in things not seen but hope looks for things not seen as yet.

2 Bible Study Notes; March 2000; Faith, Hope & Promise Page 2 of 4 Faith believes in things not seen while hope expects to see them. If faith ceases to believe then hope ceases to expect, for hope can only expect that which faith believes. If faith is in God then hope is in God. If faith is in faith then hope is in faith. If faith is in hope then hope is in hope. If faith is in self then hope is in self. Hope can be deceived in that which it expects because faith can be deceived in what it believes. Hope may expect what God has not promised because faith believes what God has not said. Hope depends on faith which depends on the promise which depends on God. Faith must be careful how it hears because it will affect what faith believes. Hope must examine faith for assurance in what to look for. Hope has to look ahead for what it hopes to see, but looks at faith to know what it is. Faith being the substance of the things which hope expects to see can cause hope to expect things that it will never see. Faith must look to God and what God has said or else it will produce evidence that will misdirect hope. When faith looks elsewhere than to God then it subjects hope to vanity. Faith must not be in faith itself nor in hope its result but in God itõs source. Since the Word of God is the source of that faith which believes God and faith is the source of that hope which is in God then it becomes very important that one knows the Word of God or else his hope may be in vain (hopeless). If one does not know what God has said then He may have faith in what someone says God has said. If hope begins to just look around it may loose sight of what it hopes for, so hope must continually look at faith and faith must keep in touch with God so that the anchor for hope is both sure and steadfast. The goal for hope is set by the promise because the Promise tells hope what to expect. But faith must tell hope what the promise is so that hope will know what to look for. If the goal is too low then faith is too little. If the goal is to short then faith is too small. The aim for hope is set by faith, if hope misses the mark then faith has aimed too high or too low or too short. What faith hears and what faith believes will determine the aim which directs hope to the goal, therefore faith must take care how it hears and what it believes or else hope will miss the mark. By faith Abram believed when he heard the promise; and through hope he possessed when he saw Isaac the provision. When the promise is kept and Isaac is born, hope now can see what faith had believed. Isaac had long been a promise that only faith could see. Now Isaac is a provision for hope to see. Isaac is alive because God kept his promise but Isaac is condemned to die so that faith may see another provision. Hope expected Isaac to be born but hope never expected Isaac to be saved at Moriah. A faith with believes will be tested by God to see if it will obey. PROMISE AND PROVISION A believing faith had seen the promise kept when Isaac was born from a womb which had been dead. Now obeying faith will see God make a provision where no promise has been made. AbrahamÕs faith was tested at Moriah but another hope was born from another promise which was made.

3 Bible Study Notes; March 2000; Faith, Hope & Promise Page 3 of 4 Isaac was a fulfilled promise to Abraham but God also made a promise at Moriah to save the world. What God provided at Moriah saved Isaac but what God promised to provide would save the world. One manõs faith brought the child of promise to the place where every manõs faith could one day see the provision of a promise. Abram came out of Ur and believed a promise. Abraham obeyed and went to Moriah and saw a provision. Moriah was more than a place where faith was tested. It was a place where a promise was made and faith could believe for a better hope. God saved Isaac the Heir of Abraham at Moriah and made Abraham The Heir of the world (Rom.4:13) through another promise. In order to keep His promise to Abraham concerning Isaac, God had to restore the womb of Sarah to be capable of conceiving from AbrahamÕs seed. But to keep his promise to Abraham at Moriah, God had to conceive a son in MaryÕs womb (a Child of Promise like Isaac) then bring Him by obedience to Moriah to pay the wage on sin. Abraham means ÒAbbaÓ or Father and God promised many children to Abraham through the flesh. But through faith like that of Abram, there would come many children who would call God (Abba) Father. The promise to Abraham of a single Seed, who would be Christ the Savior of the world, did not relate at all to anything which Abraham could do to bring it about, and the Salvation which would result from the Savior would be a gift from God to a faith like that of Abraham. AbrahamÕs faith brought Isaac up the mountain where they saw a sacrifice provided for Isaac to return home (down the mountain) with his Abba. At Moriah, God pictured the plan which He had purposed and promised to Adam and Eve concerning the Seed of the Woman who would save all who believed from condemnation of death and the grave. (Gen. 3:15) When Isaac went up the mountain he was condemned to die. But after GodÕs provision of the ram, he went down the mountain, set free to live out his mortal life. When Jesus went up the same mountain, he was condemned to die as GodÕs provision for faith to see, believe and receive the gift of Immortal life. When the ram of God was seen in the thicket, it was a picture of the Lamb of God to be seen with the thorns. The ram saved the heir of Abraham. The Lamb saved the heirs of God. The ram saved the son; the Lamb Saves the Sons. The ram was not promised, but was provided in order that a provision might be made according to promise. The ram provided Isaac the Heir with life to live with his father Abraham, the Lamb provides life for heirs to live with God their Father. The ram which died for a promised son at Moriah was a picture of a Lamb who was a promised son that would die at Moriah, according to promise, for many sons. The ram provided prolonged life in the land. The Lamb provided eternal life in the Lord. The ram and the Lamb are both provided by God for condemnation, which is death. Without the ram, AbrahamÕs heir goes to the grave. Without the Lamb, AdamÕs heirs remain in the grave. The ram prevents a calamity. The Lamb provides escape from a calamity that has already happened. (Rom. 5:12)

4 Bible Study Notes; March 2000; Faith, Hope & Promise Page 4 of 4 The ram prevents the heir from death and the grave. The Lamb raises up heirs from death and the grave. The ram is for one; the Lamb is for all. The ram was caught and brought; but The Lamb came and gave. The ram was not sired by his father for the purpose of this sacrifice at Moriah but was apprehended to do what any ram could have done. The Lamb was planned and promised by the Father to be of the Father, and therefore able to do what only a son could possibly do. The ram had not been promised, therefore was not expected (hope). But, the Lamb came according to promise in the fullness of time and therefore should have been expected. At Moriah, AbrahamÕs faith was focused on the grave with hope in a resurrection. (Heb. 11:19) Therefore, he saw GodÕs son on Moriah raised from the dead, seeing ChristÕs day before Christ was born. (Jn. 8:56) The faith of a father at Moriah saw God spare his son with a substitute and heard God confirm (oath) the promise to bless the world (Heb. 6:13) when a father once again brings a condemned son to Moriah to die. God had found faith in Ur and brought it out to hear a promise and now to show it a provision so faith could see what hope was to look for on their journey to Faith came out of Ur of the Chaldees and found Hope in a promise, then both traveled together through many centuries, down a long road on the journey to Faith brought a man out of a world where there was no hope and stood him before God to hear a promise which faith believed, and brought in hope which faith sustained until the promise was kept. Faith heard the Word of God calling to come out where faith heard the promise of God to wait, then faith waited with hope until the fullness of time when what faith had heard would be seen by hope. While faith and hope endured on the journey from promise to provision, faith began to focus on itself and blinded hope, so when they arrived at Mt. Moriah where the promise was kept and the provision was made, hope failed and faith stumbled and they looked at a grave for three days until hope was revived and faith believed again. (I Peter 1:3) Hope failed at MoriahÕs Lamb, but was revived by faith in a better promise giving substance to a better hope. New evidence gave better substance to better things which faith believed to bring a better hope. PROVISION AND POSSESSION We have now seen the historical chronology of Faith then Hope then Provision. Now we see a gift to possess which results from that which had been provided at Mt. Moriah...better known as Mt. Calvary. God called one man, Abram, out from among the hopeless to come to God and receive a promise. Likewise, God will now call one man, Paul, to go back to the uncircumcised hopeless and invite them to receive the Possession (which is a gift from God of Himself). In other words, as Faith brought the Hopeless to God, now Faith will bring God to the Hopeless. The faith of Abraham brings a man to God but the faith of Paul brings God to man. Back in AbramÕs day faith brought a man out to receive the Promise and have hope. In PaulÕs day faith brings men out to receive the Possession and have Life. Faith once brought a man to God. Now, faith brings God to men.

5 Bible Study Notes; March 2000; Faith, Hope & Promise Page 5 of 4 The uncircumcised hopeless who are without can now be within. And the heirs of Abraham are heirs together with the children of God...being heirs of God and of the blessing of Abraham. (Gal. 3:14) The promised blessing to Abraham related both to his genetic children in the flesh and his faith children in the spirit. AbrahamÕs children in the flesh were the Israelites with a promised land. AbrahamÕs children in the spirit are those with faith like that of Abraham; and they are heirs of a promised life (Gen. 12:3) We began the story of faith with the Father of Faith (Rom. 4:16) when He was in uncircumcision without God, without Christ, without covenant, without promise and without hope (Eph. 2:12). Now we see the Children of Faith within all that Abram, was without (Eph. 2:13). Faith brought Abram out when he was called and when he came. Now faith takes Paul back in when he is called and when he is sent. Abram came out to receive the promise. Paul returns so that faith may receive the God kept His promise through the seed of Abraham to provide a lamb to ransom mankind from the fall by paying the wage of original sin (Rom. 6;23). God calls Paul to invite anyone to receive The Gift of God through Faith which is exactly how Abram received the promise. Abraham became the father of faith when he believed God concerning the promise. Now anyone may become a child of faith when they believe God concerning the provision. The difference in the father of faith and the children of faith is that Abraham could only believe and have hope in that which the children were promised. But the children believe and receive that which had been promised to them, for now it has been provided and given. Abraham, by faith, saw the day when God would keep his word. But his children, by faith, see the day when GodÕs word was made flesh to keep and fulfill all the promises which GodÕs word had made. Before the provision, faith could only believe and hope. Now, faith can believe and possess. God made many promises to Abraham; some which God could keep; some which only GodÕs son could keep; but none for Abraham to keep...rather to believe, hope and receive. Now that the son has come and done the work of his Father, everyone can know the God of Abraham and how faithful He is to keep all his promises. Thereby, they also know that He is love by the price that was paid, not just in order to keep a promise, but to make a purchase which would provide a gift for all by faith to possess. (Jn. 3:16) (Eph. 2:8) Acts 20:28) #